It has come to this...
We are putting our hamsters in HamsterVille for adoption. We are seeking all those animal lovers who would like to own a hamster or two to adopt our hammies.
We love them dearly, after 13 cages later with a population of 45... and maybe a few more it seems, as one looks rather... big to be fat, God help us, it is just overwhelming to care for them all.
They have literally overtaken our service balcony, much of our weekends to clean after them and the painful-to-see wounds after vicious territorial fights in some cages, because these little furry animals normally would live alone in the wild.
We simply cannot afford to separate every single one of them because the space required and money spent to buy the cages. A couple is good, but now is just too many to handle.
Our last resort would be to surrender some to Singapore's SPCA but knowingly, the association will euthanized them within 24 hours since they are also constrained by space and funds.
We cannot bear to think that we are sending them to die. Neither can we let them go into the wild... as these domesticated creatures will surely have a slow death from starvation and dehydration. It is just too cruel to abandon them and hope for the best.
We just have to find ways to find them new homes with animal-loving owners.
Through word of mouth at our son's school, his Teacher was nice enough to announced to the class about our adoption plan. We so far have one potential taker. His parents allow him to have one, but only after the CA1 or Continual Assessment First Term is over.
Through the Internet, we have so far submitted personal advertisements for pet adoption in several local websites here.
I found two huge and active websites called Pets Channel and Pet Valley from SPCA's Links page. I registered myself today and put adverts for adoptions of our hamsters. Hopefully there will be good, responsible pet lovers out there who would like to take in these beautiful creatures.
We are giving the cages and whatever accessories that the hamsters are having now to the right new owners. What they need to do are to care for and love them. Now is to wait for any interested people to call in.
The last option is to put up an Adoption advert in newspapers, but figured we give it some time for responses to come from our previous efforts.
There is a need to give potential pet owners, especially hamsters what they will be in for and the know-how to not have a population explosion like we had. We have learnt our hard lesson through ignorance, but we will always remain humane as we are a family of animal lovers.
Imran,
ReplyDeleteI was a bit worried about all the responsibilities (and sorrows) of all those multiplying hamsters. I think your doing the right thing and commend you for making every effort to make sure they have "homes". I'm sure you all will miss them and feel a void for a while.
I used to have 2 cats, the other one was the "brother". "Lizzie" is the sister, I decided to keep her. They had been together in the womb, (and the only surivors of the litter) since they were born and when I got them both at 6 weeks..had to give him up when they were both almost 4 years old. He kept attacking her and there were problems and I had to make a very difficult decision which one to keep..so I kept the weaker one and found a new home for the stronger one. It took me 3 months to find him a new home. The waiting was hard for me as it hurt more knowing he was going to be leaving me. I kept hugging him and crying. It's been over a year and a half now and I still miss him..I hope he's happy and forgives me I did the best I could..but I know I did the right thing. So are you.
Here's a thought. Do they spay and neuter hamsters? Maybe you can start over and get one or even two and spay them so you won't need to worry about any more babies coming along. Not sure if they do that for hamsters, or how much it would cost. I spayed and neutered both of my cats when they were about 7 months old.
I hope it all turns out..remember you can only do the best you can..it will be hard to find a home for that many so you know you can only do what the best you can Imran..don't be so hard on yourself...and then "let go"...like you said before.
I'm so sorry for all the pain you all have had to go through...and your losses.
Blessings,
Rhi
I'm sorry that this has to happen --- you're a good person to go to this level of care.
ReplyDeleteI hope you find good homes for them Imran. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have a hamsetr but I dunno if I'd be able to handle their death - they only live for abt 2 years right?
ReplyDeleteOh the heart-ache.. :(
What a great idea...and who could resist these little creatures of yours?
ReplyDeleteI hope you have many responses to the advertising...fingers crossed for you and them too.